This article was originally posted on Northeastern Global News by Cyrus Moulton.
Punch the Monkey has gone viral, capturing the hearts of millions while dragging around a stuffed orangutan for emotional support after being rejected by his mother and troop.
Animal experts at Northeastern University said that the story is a look into primate behavior – but not just the behavior of monkeys.
“It tells us more about our species than Punch himself,” said Rébecca Kleinberger, assistant professor and director of Northeastern’s INTERACT Animal Lab, which uses technology to improve animals’ lives and described Punch’s orangutan as “classic enrichment” for a behavior in social species or managed care..
Kleinberger said the way humans are interpreting Punch’s predicament is very biased and based on snippets of videos, not necessarily a complete picture of what is happening to the monkey.
“Maybe the world needs those kinds of stories right now,” she said.
Mark Wells, assistant teaching professor of philosophy at Northeastern, concurred.
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